There are 1,164 living Korean War Veterans in Richland County today; and on Saturday, those veterans will be honored during a parade and ceremony in Mansfield. The parade marks the 60th anniversary of the conflict’s end and will be led by the Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 51 Color Guard.
“It’s the forgotten war. I don’t know why. Talk to the government about that. There was no warm welcome when we got home,” said Frank Russo, Korean War veteran and President of the Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 51.
Russo, 82, did not see any combat in the war. Instead, he served from 1947 to 1951 in a non-commission club in Japan. Now, his responsibility as president of the veterans association involves holding meetings with members of the club and organizing parades, like the one coming up this weekend.
National Chaplain of the Korean War Veterans Association Leo Ruffling agreed that the war is not well understood.
“Most people do not know that the Korean War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century. That was the first time the Russian/Chinese forces ever crossed a defended border. We stopped them and they have never crossed another border that we defended. Modern South Korea, contrasted with North Korea, is evidence that we did the right thing,” Ruffling stated.
Richland County Commissioner Ed Olson had two uncles who served and it wasn’t until near the end of one of his uncle’s lives that he saw a picture of him in fatigue pants and boots and he asked his mother about the photo. She explained, ‘Oh, he was in the Korean War, but he doesn’t talk about it.’”
Olson continued, “As a young teenager, my Sunday school teacher was a veteran. He was a Marine at the Chosin Reservoir [one of the worst battles of the war] on Thanksgiving Day 1950, and the conflict had just started. The country had been divided along the 38th Parallel, and they had pushed the enemy back to the Pusan Perimeter. That’s when McArthur made his landing at Inch’on. The army basically caught the North Koreans between them and pursued them. They almost had the whole conflict wrapped up when the Chinese entered the war and pushed them back.”
“What they’re celebrating Saturday,” he added, “is the ceasefire. Some men spent years of their life overseas and came home and people said, ‘Oh, where have you been? There was a lot of sacrifice with little recognition. I served in Vietnam and it was a similar after the Tet Offensive in 1968.”
“I think the parade is a nice way of showing the veterans they are appreciated,” the commissioner concluded.
The parade begins at 10:30 a.m. and will proceed from the five-way intersection on Marion Avenue and Park Avenue in Mansfield to Central Park where a ceremony will start at 11 a.m. Doug Theaker will be the keynote speaker, along with special speaker, Dr. Jay Haar. Three choirs will also perform.
At the end of the ceremony a medallion will be given to the Korean War veterans in remembrance and gratitude for their service. In case of rain, the ceremony will be at AMVETs Post 26.
Saturday’s parade provides an opportunity to honor Richland County’s Korean War veterans and demonstrate that they are not “forgotten.”
